I have been undertaking some online training in the beautiful art of the Beloved photogenic technique. My Beloved journey began in November last year when I saw Jesh De Rox, founder, speak in Hobart about Beloved. I was blown away and couldn’t wait to learn more. So I signed up for premium training and off I went.

Beloved photogenic technique is about creating spaces for my muses (Beloved talk for clients, I’ll explain why in a minute) where they can be themselves, interact in a way that is 100% authentic to them and allow an experience to unfold that is theirs and one that they will remember and FEEL when they revisit their images. No cheesy smiles, no awkward poses that is just NOT them and no contrived expressions allowed anywhere.Now I have had these sessions, other photographers will have had them too. They are AWESOME sessions! We say afterward ‘wow I wish every session could be like THAT! They were so free, so relaxed and playful!’ Beloved attempts to create a space so that every session is like that.

Using the Beloved technique enriches the experience for my muses AND also for me. They are fun, they are real and I get to really enjoy and SEE my muses the same way that everyone who loves them sees them. That is very important for great photogenic capture.

EVERYONE is beautiful. Everyone.
Everyone is photogenic, yes, everyone.

We are all beautiful to someone. My husband is beautiful to me, my son and daughter are beautiful to me, my brother, my mother, my father, are ALL beautiful to me. They all have things that they do that make me smile and that make me fall in love with them more.

Likewise, my muses are beautiful to the special ones in their lives. As a stranger, I don’t yet know exactly what it is, that thing that they do, that way they look when they laugh, they way their eyes fill with love, the way they comfort their lover – the things that their loved ones love about them SO VERY MUCH; I don’t know these things. I certainly can’t ask them to ‘do that thing you do when your daughter says ‘I love you mummy’. You can’t suddenly pull that expression and feel that love on the count of three. So as their photographer, if I am to capture the essence of my muse, that is not just a pretty picture, but that is a real honest authentic representation of them as they are, those things that stirs love in the people that love them, then it is my JOB to find their inner beauty. I need to encourage and invite the real them out to play, the one that they keep for their loved ones, the real them that they keep locked away from strangers, especially photographers. Beloved is a way to do that. And I am slowly working my way toward mastering this technique, because it means so very much to me to create REAL memorable images for the people that I photograph to cherish. For me, I love what I do, and I need to KEEP feeling the love for what I do or I will dry up. Photography is a HARD business of weekend work, LATE late nights, constant self criticism and doubt, constant learning and improving etc. Falling in love with the people that I photograph keeps me loving what I do and enriches my journey and the images that I create. I LOVE to love my job and I love nothing more than delivering beautiful images to those that I photograph and hearing how much they love them. It really is the only reason why I do it.

So, why Muse? Well, what is a muse?

Muse: source of inspiration for a creative artist.

compare this with:

client: A person using the services of another.
subject: a person or thing that is being discussed, described, or dealt with.

Think about that. What would YOU rather be? The beloved technique recognises that the beauty, the art, the magic is encapsulated in who or what we are photographing. That’s why we are doing it after-all! To capture the magic of that person, couple, family or event. I want to be inspired by those that I photograph, I want the resulting art to be of THEM and who they are because I want it to mean something to them. Photography is a service when you break it down, but I think it needs to be more that that. Your photographer should not cookie cut you and your loved ones. You are unique and beautiful, you deserve costumised portraiture that is true to you. You are a muse.

The real beauty of a beloved session though, is not at all about the photographer or the images, but about those being photographed. By inviting them in to a space where they can let down their walls and be themselves with the photographer, they also tear down the walls between each other and be themselves to each other. I think this is one of the most important things in todays world. When was the last time you spent, say an ENTIRE hour speaking to your loved one with no interruptions, without looking at your phone or checking facebook once? For some of you this will be a regular occurrence, but in todays world, MANY people probably don’t know they answer to that. I’m not judging by the way! My goodness no, I am terribly guilty of this. I get emails and facebook messages delivered to my phone, I am SO accessible to the outside world. I even bought a backup battery for my phone so that I don’t have any down time when the battery dies! I have to really concentrate sometimes to shut it out and be present and available to my family. I have to turn my phone off or put it in another room so that I can just concentrate on building a lego tower with my son and be present with him, soak up all of his presence with me and enjoy this little person who will be grown up way too soon and not want to spend time with me. So no judgment from me! However, 1 hour talking one on one with your loved one, enjoying each others company, spending time together, having genuine interactions with each other and FEELING your love and connection. That is the best win of them all!

So, that is Beloved in my words. I look forward to sharing some Beloved sessions with you over the coming months. While I will be using some of the techniques in all of my sessions, I will focus on mastering them in some couple sessions, and then I will work to turn my family sessions into complete Beloved sessions as well. I expect it to take time while I master this and make it second nature. I hope you will enjoy my journey with me.

Katinka
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